Among the Fortress
by Skyward Princess of Time
Summary: While traveling in the Gerudo Fortress, Link faces his toughest challenge yet, and it's no ordinary obstacle. Implied Zelink.


**Disclaimer: I don't own the Legend of Zelda. If I did… xD**

"**Among the Fortress" is rated "T" for some mild language and adult themes.**

* * *

_**Among the Fortress**_

_A Legend of Zelda Fanfiction_

_Please don't let anyone see me._

Link darted from box to box, crouching in front of the entrance to the Gerudo Fortress. Gerudo guards patrolled the area as they always did. Link considered whipping out his arrow and stunning all of them momentarily. Huh. He was getting a sense of serious déjà vu.

This wasn't his first trip to the all-female stronghold. As a matter of fact, he'd been here a total of three times. In his opinion, that was three too many.

Firstly, in order to free the Sage of Spirit, he needed to access the temple deep within the Gerudo Desert. The only way to enter said desert was through a giant gate. In order to open the gate, one needed to be on friendly terms with the Gerudo, a band of female thieves with a particular dislike for males.

Unaware of this little detail, Link walked right in and went to speak with the first guard he saw. Instead of receiving a straight answer like he anticipated, he was thrown into a cell. So much for hospitality. Then again, that's what he gets for blindly walking into a new area.

Armed with his handy longshot and trusty bow, Link meticulously infiltrated the base, freeing the carpenters that were trapped inside. This was no small feat. It required stealth and precision, which was never Link's strongpoint. After what seemed like countless failures, Link managed to free all the carpenters. Impressed with his work, the acting head of the Gerudo offered him a membership. Now Link was officially a Gerudo and allowed to access the fortress—and most importantly, the desert—whenever he pleased. It was a good deal.

After saving the Sage of Spirit, the Gerudo leader Nabooru, Link returned to the fortress once again. He was preparing for the upcoming showdown with Ganondorf and thought it would be wise to upgrade his items. A little bird dropped a hint that an upgraded quiver could be found in the Gerudo Fortress. Due to Link's precision issues, he was constantly running out of arrows and decided an upgraded quiver would be a good idea.

Link shuddered. It was that memory that caused him to hide behind a box like an idiot.

* * *

"_So, newbie, you've got a nice horse there. Where did you steal it from?"_

"_Huh? Epona? Uh…"_

_Link wasn't sure how he should word his answer. Truthfully, he won Epona in a race. Ingo, the farmhand who was easily influenced by Ganondorf due to his jealousy of the ranch's owner Talon, raced him twice. The first was for fifty rupees and the second was for Epona herself. Epona, being the superior horse by far, easily won the race. So technically, Link won Epona fairly. Then again, he didn't really ask Malon and Talon, the horse's true owners if he could ride her. Malon later said she was glad Link was riding her, but still…_

"_Way to go, stud. You don't have to tell me. You slept with the ranch girl, right?"_

_Huh? Slept with? Link couldn't even remember the last time he slept in his own bed, let alone a bed big enough to fit two people. What did sleeping in the same bed have to do with anything?_

_Seeing Link's puzzled reaction, the Gerudo laughed. "Look at you, acting all innocent." She lowered her voice, nudging him in the ribs. "I bet if you slept around here, you'd get all kinds of awesome things."_

_Link was royally confused. He knew the Gerudo were thieves and as such they had unorthodox methods to say the least, but he still didn't get the whole "sleeping with" thing. The way the woman was looking at him certainly made him feel uncomfortable._

_Wait a minute. Maybe she was talking about adult things. Princess Ruto babbled nonsense about Link being her future husband. For one thing, Link didn't even know what proposing meant. He later asked Navi, who only replied that it meant very good friends. Secondly, he still didn't get what marriage was. Sure, he knew it happened when a woman and a man loved each other very much, but that was about it. _

_Hey, he grew up in an area where there were no adults. Kokiri were all children. The Great Deku tree never told them about adult matters because they would never grow up. Imagine Link's surprise when one minute he was nine and the next he was sixteen years old._

_Navi called him "a child in an adult's body." Link was technically more mature and felt a lot older, but that was it. He still felt himself tearing up a wee bit when he stubbed his toe. The Redeads were still freaky as hell. He wanted nothing more than to sleep all the time. _

_After recuperating from the battle with Bongo-Bongo, Link overheard a conversation between Impa and Rauru. They were commenting how valiant Link was and how his efforts would certainly bring peace to Hyrule. Rauru commented how it was a shame they needed to wait seven years, but it was necessary for Link to become a mature adult. Impa laughed at that, saying Link was an adult physically but mentally he was still an innocent boy. Most peculiarly, she mentioned how poor Link never went through puberty._

"_Puberty." Link had no idea what it meant. He later asked Navi, who told him that it was the transitional period when a boy became a man. Link pouted and replied how he was a man, which sent the little fairy into giggles. There goes Link's dignity yet again._

"_I just want to try my hand at the archery course," Link waved her statement away, blushing furiously. _

"_Uh huh. Sure. That'll be twenty rupees." The Gerudo winked at him again._

_Link aced the course faster than he expected, rewarded with his upgraded quiver. As he was riding off, the Gerudo called for him to visit her again when he needed female company._

_Now that he thought about it, the majority of Link's friends were female. He never considered himself to be Mido's friend back in Kokiri Forest. Saria was his best friend growing up. His traveling companion, Navi, was female. Ruto of course was hell-bent on this "fiancé" thing. Malon was a friend. For awhile Sheik was there, but later Link discovered he was really Princess Zelda. There was Darunia, but that was…different. To top it all off, even Epona was a female. _

_Females. No matter how old he was, Link would never understand._

_Epona gave a sharp whinny, jerking her rider out of his reverie. Gasping, Link pulled his horse to a screeching halt. At least half of the Gerudo were in front of him. _

"_Hello Link," one of them said, approaching him._

_There was something about the way she said his name that sent jitters down his spine. For one thing, this is the first time any of them used his real name. Usually they just called him "newbie" or "newcomer."_

"_No, Link, play with me first," another one said, tugging on his leg._

"_Sachi told us how you won that pretty horse of yours," The first Gerudo said, stroking Epona's mane in a rather suggestive matter. "I have an even better treasure."_

"_Wait!" Link cried, flustered. "I won Epona in a race!"_

_The Gerudo giggled. "Did you hear that, Isis? Who does he think he's fooling?" _

"_He's playing hard to get, Mana…"_

"_How cute! He really is much better looking than Ganondorf. I wonder if…"_

"_Oh, you would know!"_

_Link had no idea what any of them were talking about, but he knew he didn't want to stay around long enough to find out. He considered urging Epona into a gallop and hoping the horse would just hop over their heads, but that was risky. He didn't want to hurt any of them, after all._

"_I think he's mine for the night," One bold Gerudo announced, grabbing Link's arm with such force it started to pull him off of the horse. Link cried out in shock, flailing around for Epona's reigns and instead only finding empty air. _

"_That's not fair, Mona, you always get what you want! He's mine!" A different Gerudo tugged on Link's other arm, pulling him in the opposite direction. _

"_Epona! Help!" Link screamed. The horse whinnied although she was trapped and there was nothing she could really do to amend the situation. "Let me go!" Link wailed._

_At this rate, he'd rather deal with Ruto and that was saying something._

"_Enough!" A stern voice interrupted. The women all stopped immediately, turning their attention to the sound of the voice and bowing their heads in a sign of respect._

"_Lady Aliyah," the one apparently named Mona said. _

_Link recognized this new Gerudo as the one who granted him his membership. In his opinion, he did think she was the prettiest among the Gerudo. She did bare a lot of similarities to Nabooru, not that he'd ever say anything. She was Nabooru's second in command and since Nabooru was out guarding the Spirit Temple, that meant she was in charge. He knew very little about Gerudo traditions, but he did know they kept to their strict order._

"_Let the boy go," she ordered. "Honestly, what is with all of you? We're above this. We don't need men in our lives."_

_All the Gerudo obediently obliged, muttering that they were sorry and returned to their everyday activities._

"_Thank you," Link said graciously, righting himself on Epona and slumping over the horse in exhaustion._

"_You'll have to forgive them. It's not often we find a man that lives up to our standards. Especially ever since Ganondorf…" Aliyah trailed off, waving her hand. "No matter. You might want to head out or they might come back."_

"_Thank you!" Link called, waving._

_As he left, he couldn't shake the feeling that Aliyah never took her eyes off of him._

* * *

Yeah. That was the reason. Not wanting to be attacked by hordes of women, Link was attempting to sneak in.

So, why did he return to this desolate place? While dispelling the barriers in Ganon's Castle, there was a particular case of a switch set ablaze. Link tried everything he could, but couldn't dispel the fire. Naturally, he needed to activate the switch in order to proceed further. Link decided he needed to freeze the switch. After asking around Kakariko Village, Link heard of this particular legend regarding the Ice Arrows. Apparently, the Ice Arrow had the ability to freeze anything. The arrows were the treasure of the Gerudo.

Of course.

This time, Link elected to leave Epona outside of the fortress. He wanted to bring her in for company, but the horse was large and he couldn't hide her that well.

Unfortunately, a dust storm from the desert recently blew through, leaving a small layer of smog which did not agree with Link's sinuses whatsoever. The green-clad hero often held his breath often to keep himself from sneezing. That would certainly alert the Gerudo to his presence.

A particularly fierce gust of wind sent sand hurtling towards him. Link attempted to cover his face, but he was a second too late. Focused on rubbing the sand out of his eyes, Link lost his concentration and sneezed several times.

Just his luck.

"Link?" Link recognized that voice as Mona, the Gerudo who clung to him last time.

This day kept getting better and better.

"Hi Mona," Link waved nonchalantly, waving and glancing sheepishly to the side.

"What are you doing behind a box?"

_Hiding from you? _"Uh, I was hoping the box would act as a shield from the wind." Yeah, that was it. That sounded plausible and a smart thing to do.

"Uh, Link," Mona crossed her arms over her chest. "The wind's blowing from that way."

Whoops. So much for that theory. "Silly me!" Link replied, laughing a bit too maniacally.

The Gerudo raised her eyebrow at him. Hey, at least she was so busy thinking he was an moron that she wasn't groping him.

"Actually…" Link started. He might as well, he was already figured out. "I was hoping I could tackle your training ground."

Her face lit up. Taking a completely different tone, she cried "that's my Link!" and jumped up and down rather girly-like. "It's a tough challenge, but I'm pretty certain my brave warrior can conquer the trials in no time."

"That's what I'm hoping," Link responded, hoping he didn't look as idiotic as he felt. The stunning change in Mona's behavior was weird. One second she was stern and looking down on him and the next minute she was acting like a deranged fangirl. And what was with the "my" Link?

Yep, he still didn't understand women.

"Hey girls!" Mona called. "Link's going to enter the training ground!"

Once again Link was surrounded by the hordes of Gerudo. Each girl was rambling about how handsome Link was or whatnot like that. On one hand, Link was flattered, and on the other hand he was just plain confused. What was so great about him?

The training ground keeper, a woman by the name of Hani, was yammering about the rules of the training ground and how treacherous it was. Yadda yadda yadda. Please. Link was sure he'd faced tougher challenges. He tuned back in as Hani finished her spiel.

"The price is normally ten rupees, but in this case I'll make a special offer and it's free for the price of you virginity."

Virginity? Huh? Well, if it was free…

Link opened his mouth to agree when Navi frantically flew back and forth in front of him.

"How dare you!" she cried at Hani, wagging her little finger. "He's just a child! Don't trick him with your conniving ways!"

"Hey, who's the midget?" Mona crossed her arms over her chest. "Fly home, little girl."

"I will not!" Navi snapped indignantly. She turned to Link. "Link, just pay her the ten rupees."

"But what does she mean by-"

"Enough!" Navi cut him off. "I'll tell you later. Just pay her, okay?"

Link shrugged, still not understanding a word, and fetched a yellow rupee out of his pocket.

Hani stuck her tongue out. "Party-pooper," she said to Navi. "Good luck, Link!"

The other Gerudo waved him off. With a relieved sigh, Link was glad to be alone with only Navi. He had a few questions to ask her, but decided to ask later.

The training presented challenges that were tricky, but Link was prepared. There was no monster he'd ever faced that he couldn't cut down. Every puzzle could be figured out. Everything was only a step to freeing Zelda.

Zelda. The Princess of Hyrule. Link wanted to help Hyrule, but it meant so much more to him that he rescued her. The Princess was beautiful, that was for sure, and age treated her kindly. She proved her inner strength when she disguised herself as Sheik for all that time. She was brave, courageous, and smart.

The thought of her made his heart flutter. His pulse rose and he felt his cheeks get hot.

"Hey Navi?" He called, cutting down the Wallmaster.

"What is it, Link?"

Jumping from block to block, Link then shot a bat with his bow, landing safely on a pillar in the middle of the room. "I don't really want to know what 'sleeping with' means, but this whole thing with the Gerudo made me think a little. I don't know a thing about women, but I get butterflies in my stomach whenever I think about Zelda. Is this love? Is this the feeling the Gerudo talk about?"

Navi snorted, showing Link the location of a Fire Keese. "Those women don't know a thing about love," she said. "But yes, I'd say what your feeling is love. You want to help the Princess because you care about her, right?"

Link frowned at the red bubble, sniping it carefully with his bow before nodding. "My heart always skips a beat when I'm around her. She's really pretty. But it's more about being pretty…she's really nice. She's brave too. The list goes on and on…" he trailed off, using the hover boots to reach a far away silver rupee. Unbuckling the boots, he continued. "You said proposing meant two people become really good friends, right? After I defeat Ganondorf, I think I'm going to propose to her."

Navi laughed, blessing Link for his innocent heart. He really was still a child. Even so, it was the most pure form of love Navi had ever seen. Because of that, she thanked those hormonal women for helping Link grow up a bit.

Link faced monsters, conquered puzzles, but a relationship was his biggest challenge. He truly had a righteous heart, so he would tackle this new foe with ease.

Although she felt a little guilty for lying to him, she couldn't resist playing along.

"That's right, Link. I'm sure she'll love it."

It was still a lie to protect a child's innocence, but there were truth to the fairy's words. She giggled slightly to herself. She wanted a finder's fee for bringing the two together.

Link and Zelda made such a lovely couple.

* * *

**A/N**

**I hope you all enjoyed the little one-shot, "Among the Fortress." If you've read my previous work, this is a pretty big deviation from what I usually write. I was playing Ocarina of Time and always giggled at the fact Link, a child in a teenager's body, was the only man among a band of women. I considered just making it a crackfic, but then this little idea came into play. It was also going to be much longer, with a scene about Link's pierced ears (seriously, they were pierced in his sleep. Suspicious…) but I decided to keep it short and this flowed more naturally. **

**This whole fic is experimentation for me and I'm not sure what I think of it. I wasn't originally going to post it but I decided that I'd post it anyways. **

**I've always loved writing more light-hearted work, which is why I used this as a small reprieve from the emotional rollercoaster that is Ascension. My favorite work of mine is Vacant, so I'm always looking to top it.**

**Please excuse any minor grammar errors/typos that I'm sure are in here. Because this is experimentation fic, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.**

**I appreciate you all taking the time to read my work, and I hope you enjoyed it! :D**


End file.
